Minneapolis Makes Juneteenth An Official City Holiday

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to make Juneteenth a city holiday.

Juneteenth, observed on June 19, commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas finally learned they had been freed two-and-a-half years earlier, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

READ MORE: Educators To Fill In Gaps That Textbooks Lack Mentioning Juneteenth

It will now be a paid holiday for city employees. This is the first time in more than three decades that Minneapolis has added a new holiday to its city calendar, with the last being Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1986.

Click here to read more details on the legislation.